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The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers

About the author

There are two reasons why Dr. Goldberg became interested in writingThe Homework Trap.

One came from his role as a parent. The other came from his role as a psychologist treating adults.

Dr. Goldberg is the proud parent of three grown children. They all had different experiences with their schools. Two did well. One was homework trapped. Without the experience of a homework-trapped child in his own home, Dr. Goldberg would have never have had the passion and insights gained from personal experience to pursue this issue.

The second reason for writing The Homework Trap comes from Dr. Goldberg's work with adults. Unlike child psychologists and school psychologists who only see children – Dr. Goldberg sees the rest of the story. Many adults come to him with a recent disability that makes working in their current job impossible. He sees how difficult it is for them to learn new skills, conditioned by chronic homework problems in their youth.

After all, we send kids to school so they’ll become happy and successful adults. Child and school psychologists focus on getting the child to conform and behave. Dr. Goldberg is focused on how unrelenting homework demands affect the child’s future. It is from his combined view of his own child, who had ongoing homework problems, with his understanding of the impact on adults who suffered from the inability to complete homework, that Dr. Goldberg decided to pursue writing The Homework Trap.

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of professional experience dealing with a variety of psychological issues, in both in-patient and out-patient settings. His practiceincludes individual and group psychotherapy, marriage and family counseling as well as adult, adolescent and child services. Prior to his current private practice, Dr. Goldberg served as clinical director for a children's residential treatment program, as director of a psychiatric day treatment program for the chronically mentally ill, and as the head of a mental health center for residents of a rural county. He has been a frequent speaker and consultant on programs designed to serve various psychiatric populations throughout the United States. He edited "Differing Approaches for Partial Hospitalization" (1988) which addresses treatment of people with chronic mental illness.

Amember of the American Psychological Association, he currently conducts psychological evaluations ofdisabled workersand ofparents accused by the state of child abuse. Through his work with disabled adults, not just his work with children and their parents, Dr. Goldberg became interested in persistent problems with homeworkand its impact on family structure . Unlike those who work primarily with children, Dr. Goldberg understands the long term effects that chronic homework problems have later in life—both as adults and parents.

Prior to becoming a psychologist, Dr. Goldberg was a mathematician. He attended Columbia University with both a National Science Foundation Scholarship and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. After leaving Columbia with a Masters degree, he obtained a PhD in psychology. Dr. Goldberg brings hismathematical way of thinking to his clinical work, enabling him to see patterns of behavior in unique ways.

In addition to his work with his clients, Dr. Goldberg has published "The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Students, Parents and Teachers"as well as a literary novel, "Peter Squared" and its soon-to-be-released sequel, "Peter Cubed". He is the proud father of three adult children (all of whom have had different homework experiences) and is married to Maryka Matthews, a retired Psychiatric Social Worker. In his free time, Dr. Goldberg enjoys tennis, chess and Scrabble™ (and even, sometimes, homework).